Abstract. We describe initial work on building, within Second Life, a virtual gallery which can automatically tailor itself to individual visitors, responding to their abilities, interests, preferences or history of interaction. The description of an object in the virtual world can be personalised to suit the beginner or the expert, varying how it is said - the choice of language (such as English or Greek), the words, or the complexity of sentences, as well as what is said - by taking into account what else has been seen or described already. The guide delivering the descriptions can remain disembodied, or be embodied as a robotic avatar.